As I reflect on 2020, our team, our partners, and our work have kept me hopeful. And impatient. There’s never been a more urgent time to reshape the future we want to see for our country. Together, we must quicken the pace, rebuilding our systems and mobilizing capital so that everyone can have the opportunity to thrive.
I’m excited to share a sampling of the work we’ve been grateful to lead this year. The Social Finance team wishes you and your families a safe holiday season and a 2021 full of renewed energy, optimism, and grit. We have much work to do together.
Tracy Palandjian
CEO and Co-Founder
Our partners across the public and private sectors are looking for new, innovative ways to reskill and upskill today’s workforce. Through the Career Impact Bond, we can increase access to quality career training programs and build pathways to economic mobility for unemployed and underemployed people.
Jake Segal
Social Finance
Launched in 2017, this Social Impact Bond with the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and JVS Boston is designed to help immigrants and refugees find employment and higher-wage jobs. A new third-party evaluation shows strong causal evidence that the program is driving economic mobility for adult English language learners.
Sima Baran
Massachusetts Pathways to Economic Advancement
We are partnering with DAF sponsors, including the Silicon Valley Community Foundation, to offer impact-first investments to their donors via DAF accounts. These recoverable grants and impact loans will help rebuild low-income communities in the Northern California Bay Area, with an emphasis on supporting communities of color.
Jackie Khor
Social Finance
This project to permanently house 150 Alaskans represents the kind of creativity and collaboration needed across sectors to address complex issues like homelessness. It involves data-driven policymaking and thoughtful philanthropy to help the system meet the scale of the challenge.
Annie Dear
Social Finance
With the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation and a workforce development nonprofit, we’re working to further align incentives to improve job placements, wage gains, and economic mobility in Central Texas. The project will promote greater accountability and evidence-based decision-making to help residents find and keep good jobs.
James Li
Social Finance
We developed the RRN with the California Mental Health Services Oversight and Accountability Commission to provide actionable, real-time research to government agencies responding to the COVID-19 crisis. Our analysis helped inform decisions such as how to best support children during emergencies and how to improve resource navigation among jurisdictions.
Reflecting on a decade of work in the impact investing movement. Social Finance has built new tools at the intersection of finance and policy to deliver meaningful change and measurable outcomes for our communities.
![A blue sky with clouds.](https://socialfinance.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Untitled-design-1000x359.png")
![decade of impact website screenshot](https://socialfinance.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Screen-Shot-2022-12-01-at-11.03.10-AM-1000x519.png")
![Tracy Palandijian, Bracebridge H. Young Jr, and an unidentified businessman pose at a major conference celebrating impact.](https://socialfinance.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/IMG_0005-e1615230933115-1000x567.jpg")